Award Description

Project Participants

Owner/Developer – California Academy of Sciences
Architect – Renzo Piano Building Workshop-Chong Partners
Concrete Contractor – Webcor Concrete
Structural Engineer – ARUP
General Contractor – Webcor Builders
Ready Mix Supplier – Central Concrete Supply Company

The California Academy of Sciences is San Francisco is celebrating 152 years of service and dedication to exploring, explaining and protecting the natural world. After suffering significant damage in the Loma Prieta earthquake of 1989, the Academy needed a new home. Sustainability and conservation have long been a part of the Academy’s history. Consequently, the strategy was to create a new building that would not only hold powerful exhibitions, but serve as a tangible example of environmentally superior construction.

This new facility faced many challenges in achieving its desired “green” design moniker. Featuring an aquarium, a planetarium, and over 20 million scientific specimens, the building encompasses over 410,000 sq. ft. of exhibition, educational and office space covering more than three acres. Pritzker Prize-winning architect, Renzo Piano of Renzo Piano Building Workshop (RPBW), Chong Partners, and ARUP Design specialists in superior “green” design – were hired to meet the environmental goals and unique construction required for LEED-Platinum certification. Environmental construction specialists from Webcor Concrete served as General and Concrete Contractors.

Keeping the mission of the Academy in mind, it was necessary to pull “green” elements into all aspects of design and construction. The architectural team’s hallmark of the project is the 2.5 acre “live roof” with iconic rolling hills, serving as a thermal insulating layer for the building. It is projected to consume 30-35% less energy than required by code. Water efficiency was also addressed through the use of reclaimed water from the City of San Francisco to flush toilets and reducing the use of wastewater by approximately 90%. Recycled building materials such as steel and recycled blue jeans were used to construct and insulate the walls and 50% of the wood in the new Academy was sustainably harvested and certified by the Forest Stewardship Council.

Because of the Academy’s unique design requirements, multiple critical applications of concrete were implemented to achieve the desired effect. For instance, “compactor” shelves were designed to hold collections of various scientific research materials, which ride on rails for ease of accessibility and require deflection criteria of L/720 only achievable with reinforced concrete. The aquarium tanks designed with complex geometries could only be cast in concrete. The primary architectural finish of the interior hall was built with as-cast architectural concrete. Concrete was used as an integral part of the building’s mechanical system and also serves as a thermal massing element. As one of the more abundant building materials used for construction, it was important to choose mixes that were both environmentally friendly, high performing and durable.

All mixes needed to leverage sustainable materials and meet an ultra low shrinkage requirement for the aquarium tanks, with the addition of a wall mix that could deliver an as-cast ‘A+’ architectural finish. San Francisco-based Central Concrete Supply, an operating company of U.S. Concrete was able to provide best quality product at a competitive price to meet these goals.

Central Concrete provided approximately 35,000 cu. yds. of concrete utilizing environmentally friendly technology (EF Technology) concrete mixes for the construction of the California Academy of Sciences project. The EF Technology mixes consisted of 50% Portland cement and 50% supplementary cementitious materials such as fly ash and slag, which are reclaimed byproducts from iron mills and coal-fired industrial plants which would have ultimately ended up in landfills. By using EF Technology concrete mixes, 9.2 million pound of greenhouse gas emissions (C02) were prevented from entering the environment. Use of reclaimed byproducts, fly ash and slag, as well as regionally extracted supplies of aggregates, in the production of the concrete greatly contributed to the building’s LEED rating.

The new Academy optimizes use of resources, minimizes environmental impacts, and serves as an educational model by demonstrating how humans can live and work in environmentally responsible ways. The new facility integrates architecture and landscape, and helps set a new standard for energy efficiency and environmentally responsible engineering systems in a public, architecturally distinguished building.

While many companies and technologies have converged to create the “green” building category, the Academy is one of the highest profile projects in the country to successfully leverage so may elements in a single, large-scale development. Most notably, Central Concrete’s EF Technology product represents a significant leap forward in the use of environmentally superior concrete. The new Academy opened in Golden Gate Park in late 2008 and serves as a positive example of engineering achievement and environmentally sustainability for generations to come.